Preparation of Silver Nanoparticles Using a Spinning Disk Reactor in a Continuous Mode

Abstract

A spinning disk reactor (SDR) operated in a continuous mode was adopted for producing silver nanoparticles, aiming at an increase in the production rate. Two protecting agents, i.e., poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), were tested, which have been proven to be effective in our previous work of recycle operation. Using PVP as protecting agent, the effects of the operating variables, including the rotation speed, the feeding rate, the dosage of protecting agent, and reactant concentration, on the particle size and yield of the silver product were investigated. The experiment was further conducted using HPMC as protecting agent to compare the experimental results between the two protecting agents. The use of PVP gave smaller silver nanoparticles; however, a higher yield was obtained by using HPMC. Although the yield of continuous operation was lower than that of recycle operation, the production rate was much higher for either protecting agent, providing a great potential for commercialization.

Vortex Fluidic Chemical Transformations

“…Kinetic control was possible in the synthesis of macrocyclic resorcin[4]arenes and pyrogallo[4]arenes (Figure 2C). [20] Condensation using both the VFD, and non-VFD conditions produced the thermodynamically favored isomers, with the exception of the condensation of vanillin and pyrogallol.…”

“…Two p -phosphonic acid calix[5]arene molecules held together by a seam of H-bonds disassemble under shear stress, with the capsule then binding carboplatin in building a capsule for chemotherapy medicine (Figure 3A). [22] More recently, ≈100 nm diameter self assembled vehicles based on O -alkyl calix[4]arenes as phospholipid mimics has been developed for drug delivery, with the uptake of carboplatin in the vehicles increasing from undetectable levels in a round bottom flask to 75% with VFD processing. These high-loaded vehicles have a 4.5-fold increase in carboplatin loading efficiency on ovarian cancer cells relative to non-vehicle delivered carboplatin.…”

“…Within dynamic thin films, high heat and mass transfer, shear stress and micromixing [1] can lead to the improved syntheses of polymers, [2] chemicals [1c, 3] and materials. [4] …”

“…Seminal research in this area focused around the spinning disk reactor (SDR) [1a] and rotating tube processor (RTP) to generate dynamic thin films for academic and industrial chemical processes. [1c, 2a, 3–4, 4c, 5] Although beneficial, this discipline remained mostly localized to process intensification; it is possible that the large volumes of sample required (>50 mL) and high capital costs deterred researchers from exploring this area. In addressing this, a vortex fluidic device (VFD) was designed to subject both small sample sizes (1 mL or less) and continuous flow operations to the benefits of dynamic thin films.…”

Numerical Analysis of The Effect of Hydrodynamics and Operating Conditions on Biodiesel Synthesis in a Rotor-Stator Spinning Disk Reactor

“…SDR (short for spinning disk reactor), which includes spinning disks (also known as rotors) and stationary disks (also known as stators), is one of the process intensification technologies employing high gravity-centrifugal force fields caused by the rotation of rotors. Extensive studies using this technology have shown that process time, reactant inventories, and impurity levels can be reduced by up to 99% (Brechtelsbaueret al, 2001;Cafieroet al, 2002;Clifford et al, 2009). …”